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City Council Member: There has been a disturbing new crime trend [#permalink]

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25 Oct 2017, 19:58

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42%(01:07) correct 58%(01:13) wrong based on 354 sessions

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City Council Member: There has been a disturbing new crime trend occurring in our city. Members of criminal gangs are making calls from public phones to report serious crimes that are not really occurring but must be responded to by police. The gang members take advantage of this by then committing crimes in areas that the police cannot get to quickly because they are busy responding to the fake calls. To eliminate this problem, the city should remove all public phones, so gang members are not able to make these fake calls.

Citizen: While removing public phones would indeed solve this one crime problem, it will introduce many others. What about all the crimes actually occurring that are reported from public phones?

Which of the following, if true, best supports the claim that the city council member’s proposal will eliminate the problem?

A. A majority of calls made from public phones to report crimes are fake calls made by gang members.B. Almost all citizens in the city have a cell phone or immediate access to a private phone.C. The police department is able to identify the owner of any private telephone used to call in and report a crime.D. Public phones cost the city almost $2 million to maintain annually, money that could be used to increase the police budget.E. Several parts of the city in which crimes routinely occur do not have reliable signals for cell phone usage.

City Council Member: There has been a disturbing new crime trend [#permalink]

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25 Oct 2017, 20:27

IMO B

City Council Member: There has been a disturbing new crime trend occurring in our city. Members of criminal gangs are making calls from public phones to report serious crimes that are not really occurring but must be responded to by police. The gang members take advantage of this by then committing crimes in areas that the police cannot get to quickly because they are busy responding to the fake calls. To eliminate this problem, the city should remove all public phones, so gang members are not able to make these fake calls.

Citizen: While removing public phones would indeed solve this one crime problem, it will introduce many others. What about all the crimes actually occurring that are reported from public phones?

Which of the following, if true, best supports the claim that the city council member’s proposal will eliminate the problem?

A. A majority of calls made from public phones to report crimes are fake calls made by gang members.wrong - does not explain how actual crime can be reportedB. Almost all citizens in the city have a cell phone or immediate access to a private phone.correct - if crimes are reported with cell phones there is no need for public phonesC. The police department is able to identify the owner of any private telephone used to call in and report a crime.wrong- it doesn't say how many people have access to private phones. If very few have access then crimes will not be reportedD. Public phones cost the city almost $2 million to maintain annually, money that could be used to increase the police budget.irrelevant - doesn't say how crime can be reportedE. Several parts of the city in which crimes routinely occur do not have reliable signals for cell phone usage.irrelevant

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City Council Member: There has been a disturbing new crime trend occurring in our city. Members of criminal gangs are making calls from public phones to report serious crimes that are not really occurring but must be responded to by police. The gang members take advantage of this by then committing crimes in areas that the police cannot get to quickly because they are busy responding to the fake calls. To eliminate this problem, the city should remove all public phones, so gang members are not able to make these fake calls.

Citizen: While removing public phones would indeed solve this one crime problem, it will introduce many others. What about all the crimes actually occurring that are reported from public phones?

Which of the following, if true, best supports the claim that the city council member’s proposal will eliminate the problem?

A. A majority of calls made from public phones to report crimes are fake calls made by gang members.B. Almost all citizens in the city have a cell phone or immediate access to a private phone.C. The police department is able to identify the owner of any private telephone used to call in and report a crime.D. Public phones cost the city almost $2 million to maintain annually, money that could be used to increase the police budget.E. Several parts of the city in which crimes routinely occur do not have reliable signals for cell phone usage.

HI...

One can go wrong if we dont clearly understand what is being asked..

Quote:

the claim that the city council member’s proposal will eliminate the problem

so the FAKE calls have to go down.

A. A majority of calls made from public phones to report crimes are fake calls made by gang members.yes, some fake calls will go down. BUT this is not same as the majority of fake calls are from public phonesEliminate

B. Almost all citizens in the city have a cell phone or immediate access to a private phone.This WEAKENS the citizen's view/reasoning BUT does not effect the proposal

C. The police department is able to identify the owner of any private telephone used to call in and report a crime.CORRECT.with PUBLIC phones out, fake calls can be made from PRIVATE phones BUT if these are traceable, the calls are no more FAKE

D. Public phones cost the city almost $2 million to maintain annually, money that could be used to increase the police budget.Does not effect the proposal

E. Several parts of the city in which crimes routinely occur do not have reliable signals for cell phone usageIt weakens the City councils reasoning but does not support his proposal

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Which of the following, if true, best supports the claim that the city council member’s proposal will eliminate the problem?

And what is this the problem ??

And by citizens argument

Quote:

Citizen: While removing public phones would indeed solve this one crime problem, it will introduce many others. What about all the crimes actually occurring that are reported from public phones?

there are many problems and out of those he mentions one.As per my understanding "the problem" should be the one that he mentions last...."What about all the crimes actually occurring that are reported from public phones"?

I do agree with your explanation but this question make "the problem " inconclusive and that is not a nice situation.

Re: City Council Member: There has been a disturbing new crime trend [#permalink]

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03 Dec 2017, 06:47

City Council Member: There has been a disturbing new crime trend occurring in our city. Members of criminal gangs are making calls from public phones to report serious crimes that are not really occurring but must be responded to by police. The gang members take advantage of this by then committing crimes in areas that the police cannot get to quickly because they are busy responding to the fake calls. To eliminate this problem, the city should remove all public phones, so gang members are not able to make these fake calls.

Citizen: While removing public phones would indeed solve this one crime problem, it will introduce many others. What about all the crimes actually occurring that are reported from public phones?

Which of the following, if true, best supports the claim that the city council member’s proposal will eliminate the problem?

A. A majority of calls made from public phones to report crimes are fake calls made by gang members. -No new information. This restates what is already stated in the passageB. Almost all citizens in the city have a cell phone or immediate access to a private phone. -SO what? it doesn't tell as to how will the police find out the location of caller.C. The police department is able to identify the owner of any private telephone used to call in and report a crime. -CorrectD. Public phones cost the city almost $2 million to maintain annually, money that could be used to increase the police budget. -Cost? out of scopeE. Several parts of the city in which crimes routinely occur do not have reliable signals for cell phone usage. -This will weaken the argument_________________

Re: City Council Member: There has been a disturbing new crime trend [#permalink]

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06 Dec 2017, 10:04

The question asks which of the following supports the city council member's claim that removing public telephones will "eliminate the problem of fake calls".

Only option C provides the required evidence to support the councilman's claim.

Now, as per the question text, if public phone booths are removed, private phones will be the only means remaining to report crimes to the police.Private phones are owned by individuals.Option C says that any individual who reports a crime on a private phone can be identified.Therefore, criminals, obviously not wishing to be identified, will therefore refrain from making fake calls to report fake crimes from private phones (which, as per the information provided, are the only alternative left to report crimes, fake or genuine).QED.

Re: City Council Member: There has been a disturbing new crime trend [#permalink]

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06 Dec 2017, 23:27

chetan2u wrote:

broall wrote:

City Council Member: There has been a disturbing new crime trend occurring in our city. Members of criminal gangs are making calls from public phones to report serious crimes that are not really occurring but must be responded to by police. The gang members take advantage of this by then committing crimes in areas that the police cannot get to quickly because they are busy responding to the fake calls. To eliminate this problem, the city should remove all public phones, so gang members are not able to make these fake calls.

Citizen: While removing public phones would indeed solve this one crime problem, it will introduce many others. What about all the crimes actually occurring that are reported from public phones?

Which of the following, if true, best supports the claim that the city council member’s proposal will eliminate the problem?

A. A majority of calls made from public phones to report crimes are fake calls made by gang members.B. Almost all citizens in the city have a cell phone or immediate access to a private phone.C. The police department is able to identify the owner of any private telephone used to call in and report a crime.D. Public phones cost the city almost $2 million to maintain annually, money that could be used to increase the police budget.E. Several parts of the city in which crimes routinely occur do not have reliable signals for cell phone usage.

HI...

One can go wrong if we dont clearly understand what is being asked..

Quote:

the claim that the city council member’s proposal will eliminate the problem

so the FAKE calls have to go down.

A. A majority of calls made from public phones to report crimes are fake calls made by gang members.yes, some fake calls will go down. BUT this is not same as the majority of fake calls are from public phonesEliminate

B. Almost all citizens in the city have a cell phone or immediate access to a private phone.This WEAKENS the citizen's view/reasoning BUT does not effect the proposal

C. The police department is able to identify the owner of any private telephone used to call in and report a crime.CORRECT.with PUBLIC phones out, fake calls can be made from PRIVATE phones BUT if these are traceable, the calls are no more FAKE

D. Public phones cost the city almost $2 million to maintain annually, money that could be used to increase the police budget.Does not effect the proposal

E. Several parts of the city in which crimes routinely occur do not have reliable signals for cell phone usageIt weakens the City councils reasoning but does not support his proposal

C

Thank you Chetan. It was helpful.I am wondering what is the use of Citizen's statement in this argument. Nothing.. right ?

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City Council Member: There has been a disturbing new crime trend occurring in our city. Members of criminal gangs are making calls from public phones to report serious crimes that are not really occurring but must be responded to by police. The gang members take advantage of this by then committing crimes in areas that the police cannot get to quickly because they are busy responding to the fake calls. To eliminate this problem, the city should remove all public phones, so gang members are not able to make these fake calls.

Citizen: While removing public phones would indeed solve this one crime problem, it will introduce many others. What about all the crimes actually occurring that are reported from public phones?

Which of the following, if true, best supports the claim that the city council member’s proposal will eliminate the problem?

A. A majority of calls made from public phones to report crimes are fake calls made by gang members.B. Almost all citizens in the city have a cell phone or immediate access to a private phone.C. The police department is able to identify the owner of any private telephone used to call in and report a crime.D. Public phones cost the city almost $2 million to maintain annually, money that could be used to increase the police budget.E. Several parts of the city in which crimes routinely occur do not have reliable signals for cell phone usage.

Correct answer is (C). The city council member has a very specific goal with his proposal: eliminate the problem of gang members making fake calls to successfully commit crimes. One problem with the council member’s plan is that it assumes that gang members will NOT make the fake calls once the public phones are removed. Anything that supports this notion would be a correct answer. If the police department can identify callers from any private telephone, then indeed gang members would not make the fake calls from those and this shows that removing the public phones will have the intended effect.

For the incorrect answers, you should first note that the question stem is not asking about the citizen’s response so it is likely misdirection (designed to get you thinking about issues other than the specific goal of the city council member). For (A), this might seem to support the city council’s plan but be careful: the percentage of calls from public phones used to report crimes that are fake calls is not important! Whether it is 10% or 90%, the council member wants to stop the problem and you need to add something new that shows it will succeed. Answer choice (B) weakens the citizen’s response but it does not support the council member – if anything it suggests that gang members might just start using private phones to make the fake calls. For (D), the city council member is not addressing cost and while the money could go to the police budget, this does not mean the fake call crime problem will be stopped. For (E), this answer does not address the goal of the city council member. If anything, it suggests that removing public phones would be a bad idea but since it does not relate to the fake call problem, it is out of scope.
_________________